She gave me only a phone-number and an address, in one of the seedier parts of San Francisco"They don't have a website. Or even a name. You'll see. Just tell them I referred you."...this "company" changed its name almost monthly"You can't tell anyone what we do here. Not your wife, not your dog.""We'll give you a cover story and even a phone number and a fake website you can use."...making my living lying and heckling people who come online to express their views and exercise freedom of speech

A fantasy written by someone who imagines that's what happens. Not as if there aren't enough actual zealous people out there that voluntarily and willfully (and frequently) post the craziness, any of whom could be easily hired. If groups are truly paying "non-believers" to do this, why would this super-secret network be revealed anonymously on "consciouslifenews.com"? After all, even if the author signed an NDA and then stepped forward and went public after no longer working there, who's going to sue to enforce it?

I also like how the editorial before and after kind of distances itself, yet gives it an overall endorsement of confidence.

Are you just skeptical because you're a Moderator, and trolls tend to increase the number of posts in a thread and the number of times articles are viewed?

You may not have noticed, but there are people who post the same thing in every thread relating to certain topics. It could be that they are bored and have a strong but ridiculous opinion about a topic, or it could be that they are paid. There are more reasons to believe that someone was paid to make posts on the internet than to believe that someone made up a story about being paid to post on the internet. What does he have to gain from it?

Are you just skeptical because you're a Moderator, and trolls tend to increase the number of posts in a thread and the number of times articles are viewed?

You may not have noticed, but there are people who post the same thing in every thread relating to certain topics. It could be that they are bored and have a strong but ridiculous opinion about a topic, or it could be that they are paid. There are more reasons to believe that someone was paid to make posts on the internet than to believe that someone made up a story about being paid to post on the internet. What does he have to gain from it?

1 Of course there are paid posters. They've existed since the days when usenet was where people talked about stuff.

2 The linked bit was B- HS level creative writing. The author should stick to writing about things he knows and work on his adjectives.

3 I pop up to say something bad about Reagan whenever his name is mentioned not because I'm paid, but because I'm still pissed off.

Are you just skeptical because you're a Moderator, and trolls tend to increase the number of posts in a thread and the number of times articles are viewed?

You may not have noticed, but there are people who post the same thing in every thread relating to certain topics. It could be that they are bored and have a strong but ridiculous opinion about a topic, or it could be that they are paid. There are more reasons to believe that someone was paid to make posts on the internet than to believe that someone made up a story about being paid to post on the internet. What does he have to gain from it?

Some people are so wildly self absorbed that they think people have to be paid to disagree with them. We have the same kinds of people jumping into every circumcision thread or tattoo thread making the same arguments too. Are they also paid?

Are you just skeptical because you're a Moderator, and trolls tend to increase the number of posts in a thread and the number of times articles are viewed?

You may not have noticed, but there are people who post the same thing in every thread relating to certain topics. It could be that they are bored and have a strong but ridiculous opinion about a topic, or it could be that they are paid. There are more reasons to believe that someone was paid to make posts on the internet than to believe that someone made up a story about being paid to post on the internet. What does he have to gain from it?

It came out that Limbaugh has paid actors call his show so I suspect that paid trolls exist

She gave me only a phone-number and an address, in one of the seedier parts of San Francisco"They don't have a website. Or even a name. You'll see. Just tell them I referred you."...this "company" changed its name almost monthly"You can't tell anyone what we do here. Not your wife, not your dog.""We'll give you a cover story and even a phone number and a fake website you can use."...making my living lying and heckling people who come online to express their views and exercise freedom of speech

A fantasy written by someone who imagines that's what happens. Not as if there aren't enough actual zealous people out there that voluntarily and willfully (and frequently) post the craziness, any of whom could be easily hired. If groups are truly paying "non-believers" to do this, why would this super-secret network be revealed anonymously on "consciouslifenews.com"? After all, even if the author signed an NDA and then stepped forward and went public after no longer working there, who's going to sue to enforce it?

I also like how the editorial before and after kind of distances itself, yet gives it an overall endorsement of confidence.

Stupid.

Not sure if article is legit but this definitely occurs. Stealth marketing has existed for many years. It just a no-brainer that political organizations are using this method to one degree or another. I think you would be naive to think otherwise. A cluster of people in a run down building seems phony though.

sweetmelissa31:James!: Some people are so wildly self absorbed that they think people have to be paid to disagree with them.

Nobody thinks that everyone who disagrees with them is paid. But there are some fairly obvious trolls whom I'm sure you notice, but have your own reasons to claim they are not trolls.

Are they trolls or do they just not agree with the majority of farkers? It's more conspiracy nonsense. People think their opinions are so right and beautiful that anyone who disagrees is an obvious troll. Having a contrary opinion in a harsh way? Obvious troll. Consistently having a contrary opinion? Obvious paid troll. Having a consistently contrary opinion and not being banned? ZOMG OBVIOUS PAID MOD TROLL!!!

GAT_00:Rev.K: I'm guessing they do exist on Fark. I can't think of anything else to explain the long list of known threadsh*tters who show up in every single thread about a particular topic.

I don't think that's the proof so much as they last a couple months, and then disappear to be replaced with an entirely new login created 4 days previously saying the exact same things.

It's easy to pick them out, they pretty much only show up during election season, then disappear as soon as it's over. Something about their posting style just doesn't fit with the culture here, because they aren't part of it. After several years of spending time on the Politics tab, they're pretty obvious me. I generally just scroll past their stupid propaganda garbage. It gets kinda maddening to see them stir up a thread, though. I wish folks would just ignore em and move on.

I'm going to coach this with a "I don't know of any paid internet trolls," but back in the dark days of 2004 I manage a stalking horse campaign here in sunny NC that elected one of the worst representatives in the US House. I kinda had a pretty big meltdown afterward and will never, ever associate myself with the Republican party in this state ever again.

Already a shady operation to split the Democrat vote, we kind of illegally employeed a debt-collection call center to put out fake campaign calls for the opposition. Essentially a bunch of folks tenuously employed were given the "option" to "volunteer." It was pretty effective, and we wanted new ways to push opinion.

Now, one of my ideas at the time was to push consensus building on the internet, but there wasn't a lot of support around it, as it hadn't been proven to work elsewhere before. So, do I know if anyone ever really started to try it? No. Do I still think I had a great idea that was seriously probably sorta very evil? Hell yes. If it isn't happening at some level I'd be seriously surprised.

Although with a few years thought behind it, I'd rather pay to shepherd an army of activists to troll for me. There's lots of folks here on both political sides that have no problem derping it up for free. Plus you get a lot more deniability, certainly more than trying to hide donations of call center volunteer time and facilities.

I'm going to coach this with a "I don't know of any paid internet trolls," but back in the dark days of 2004 I manage a stalking horse campaign here in sunny NC that elected one of the worst representatives in the US House. I kinda had a pretty big meltdown afterward and will never, ever associate myself with the Republican party in this state ever again.

Already a shady operation to split the Democrat vote, we kind of illegally employeed a debt-collection call center to put out fake campaign calls for the opposition. Essentially a bunch of folks tenuously employed were given the "option" to "volunteer." It was pretty effective, and we wanted new ways to push opinion.

Now, one of my ideas at the time was to push consensus building on the internet, but there wasn't a lot of support around it, as it hadn't been proven to work elsewhere before. So, do I know if anyone ever really started to try it? No. Do I still think I had a great idea that was seriously probably sorta very evil? Hell yes. If it isn't happening at some level I'd be seriously surprised.

Although with a few years thought behind it, I'd rather pay to shepherd an army of activists to troll for me. There's lots of folks here on both political sides that have no problem derping it up for free. Plus you get a lot more deniability, certainly more than trying to hide donations of call center volunteer time and facilities.

You're kind of one the same page as me. Why would anyone need to pay someone to argue on the internet? People have been doing it for free for over a decade now.

I'd bet everything I own in the world that there are people who are paid to post on Fark. I'd be shocked if there wasn't.

This shouldn't be surprising or controversial. It's not even really a "conspiracy.". Astroturfing pre-dates the internet.

That said, the linked article does set off my bullsh*t meter.

I'm sure there are people who are paid to advance a political opinion who post on fark, but I highly doubt their being paid for posting on fark. We have bloggers from both sides of almost any issue who happen to be members here. Some of them participate, some just link to their own blog from time to time.

But to say that there is someone whose job is to argue on fark? It's silly.

James!:Is it because I'm part of the conspiracy? Can my code name be Viper?

Look, we know that Romney paid to get more Twitter followers. We know that every campaign hires people to monitor facebook.

Of COURSE the campaigns have people paid to spread the message via social network. This isn't scandalous or shocking, and I don't think its some nefarious plot to undermine the "integrity" of fark.

There are a lot of people on here with whom I strongly disagree on everything, yet I don't block them because they make actual points.

And then there are people who post stupid photoshops and fake graphs or drop one inflammatory post in a thread and never post again, and I have the vast majority of those people blocked because they add nothing to the conversation.

what_now:James!: Is it because I'm part of the conspiracy? Can my code name be Viper?

Look, we know that Romney paid to get more Twitter followers. We know that every campaign hires people to monitor facebook.

Of COURSE the campaigns have people paid to spread the message via social network. This isn't scandalous or shocking, and I don't think its some nefarious plot to undermine the "integrity" of fark.

There are a lot of people on here with whom I strongly disagree on everything, yet I don't block them because they make actual points.

And then there are people who post stupid photoshops and fake graphs or drop one inflammatory post in a thread and never post again, and I have the vast majority of those people blocked because they add nothing to the conversation.

If I was paying someone to advance a position I'd want them to do more than just post fake graphs and then leave.

Are you just skeptical because you're a Moderator, and trolls tend to increase the number of posts in a thread and the number of times articles are viewed?

You may not have noticed, but there are people who post the same thing in every thread relating to certain topics. It could be that they are bored and have a strong but ridiculous opinion about a topic, or it could be that they are paid. There are more reasons to believe that someone was paid to make posts on the internet than to believe that someone made up a story about being paid to post on the internet. What does he have to gain from it?

I think that this happens (political shill commenters, I mean), but something seems off or at least exaggerated about the article itself.

James!:what_now: James!: Is it because I'm part of the conspiracy? Can my code name be Viper?

Look, we know that Romney paid to get more Twitter followers. We know that every campaign hires people to monitor facebook.

Of COURSE the campaigns have people paid to spread the message via social network. This isn't scandalous or shocking, and I don't think its some nefarious plot to undermine the "integrity" of fark.

There are a lot of people on here with whom I strongly disagree on everything, yet I don't block them because they make actual points.

And then there are people who post stupid photoshops and fake graphs or drop one inflammatory post in a thread and never post again, and I have the vast majority of those people blocked because they add nothing to the conversation.

If I was paying someone to advance a position I'd want them to do more than just post fake graphs and then leave.

You see Bart, some people are just jerks.

My old company had us make fake reddit accounts and upvote things they posted. I doubt anyone is paid to JUST post fake graphs and then leave, but that doesn't mean people aren't paid for a bunch of stuff, including fake graphs that, like, the Heritage Foundation made and then leave.